CVE-2024-9482
📋 TL;DR
An out-of-bounds write vulnerability in AVG/Avast Antivirus for macOS allows a specially crafted Mach-O file to crash the antivirus application during file processing. This affects macOS users running AVG/Avast Antivirus with signature versions older than 24092400. The vulnerability could potentially be leveraged for denial of service or further exploitation.
💻 Affected Systems
- AVG Antivirus for macOS
- Avast Antivirus for macOS
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Potential remote code execution if the crash can be weaponized to execute arbitrary code, though this would require additional exploitation techniques beyond the described crash.
Likely Case
Denial of service through antivirus application crash, potentially leaving the system temporarily unprotected until the service restarts.
If Mitigated
Minimal impact if the antivirus service automatically restarts and the malicious file is quarantined.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires delivering a malicious Mach-O file to the target system and having it scanned by the antivirus. No authentication required to trigger the vulnerability once the file is present.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Signature version 24092400 or later
Vendor Advisory: https://support.norton.com/sp/static/external/tools/security-advisories.html
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Open AVG/Avast Antivirus on macOS. 2. Check for updates in the application settings. 3. Ensure signature database is updated to version 24092400 or later. 4. Verify update completion through the application interface.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Temporary scanning exclusion
macOSTemporarily exclude Mach-O files from scanning (not recommended for production)
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Isolate affected systems from untrusted file sources
- Implement application whitelisting to prevent execution of unknown Mach-O files
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check antivirus signature version in AVG/Avast interface - if below 24092400, system is vulnerable.Check Version:
Check through AVG/Avast GUI: Settings > About or similar menu optionVerify Fix Applied:
Confirm signature version shows 24092400 or higher in the antivirus application.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Antivirus service crash logs
- Unexpected termination of AVG/Avast processes
- Error messages related to Mach-O file processing
Network Indicators:
- Unusual file transfer patterns preceding antivirus crashes
SIEM Query:
source="avg_logs" OR source="avast_logs" AND (event_type="crash" OR message="*Mach-O*" OR message="*out of bounds*")